Opinion: America celebrates 100 years of pizza

Pizza was brought to America by Italian immigrants. Apparently the staple was popular enough in New York City to cause a pizzeria to open a century ago. The rest, as they say, is history.

Actually, I was surprised that pizza has been offered commercially for that long. I may be old, but not old enough to remember when the first pizza spot opened. Truth be told, pizza was unknown to me or anyone I knew when I was growing up in Kansas. It eventually arrived: Pizza Hut was founded in the late 1950s in Wichita.

I first wrapped my taste buds around a pizza in San Francisco, when I was a youth serving in the Navy. A fellow sailor, a local boy who was far more sophisticated and cosmopolitan than I, introduced me to the Italian delicacy. It was a real Italian pizzeria, with singing waiters and everything. It was then called pizza pie, more like an actual pie than most of today’s pizzas.

Being a yokel from the sticks, I hadn’t heard of pizza, much less eaten it. My friend clued me in on how to properly conduct myself. First and foremost, he cautioned against asking for a fork. Pizza was to be eaten only with the fingers. Asking would upset the waiters. Since they were built like linebackers, I didn’t want to upset them.

“Tell them to hold the anchovies,” was the other bit of sage advice. Anchovies were once an accepted pizza ingredient. If you have ever tasted one, you know that “Hold the anchovies” is wise advice.

Omitted by my cultivated friend was a warning that the cheese and sauce were hot as fire and might fry the roof of my mouth. Long after the wonderful taste of the food was gone, my mouth still smoldered. I may have had a seared mouth, but I was sophisticated.

To be honest, after my first encounter with pizza I wouldn’t have predicted its long-term popularity in America. Today’s pizza is easier to eat than my initial escapade. All in all, it tasted good then, and it still does.

A popular description, as ‘’American as apple pie,” might be more appropriately expressed as “American as pizza pie.” This Italian concoction has become Americanized: deep dish, thin slices, thick slices, cheese-filled crusts, whatever. Pizza comes adorned with just about every ingredient known to humankind.

Anchovies notwithstanding, I like most of the ingredients.

Well, with one other exception. Never in this lifetime will I order a pizza with pineapple. To me, this would be like vanilla ice cream with mustard.

No offense to anyone who might like pineapple pizza or vanilla-mustard ice cream.

Nothing speaks to the diversity of America like our tastes in food. It would take a detailed counting in the restaurant section of the telephone book to see if there are more pizza, Chinese or Mexican restaurants in Springfield. It would be a real contest. Pasta and pizza restaurants added together would be winners by a mile. Add Cajun, Thai and Indian restaurants to those whose menus offer a cross-section of foods from various cultures and you have a unique mixture.

Americans love hamburgers, hot dogs, ham, roast beef, pork, chicken, barbecue and fresh water fish as well as seafood. We probably think of them as American dishes. We also love tacos, cashew chicken and pasta, and countless other dishes from all corners of the world.

American is rightfully called the ‘’melting pot of he world.” Our culture incorporates people from everywhere; the food going into the national cooking pot includes exotic mixtures of delicious international foods.

My cross-cultural indoctrination came long ago in a San Francisco pizzeria.

Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University.